Women's basketball ends losing streak with close win over Ohio
Back from its tough road trip, the Central Michigan women’s basketball team came back to McGuirk Arena where the Mid-American Conference East Division leading Ohio Bobcats were waiting for them.
Junior forward Tinara Moore scored 18 points as the Chippewas defeated the Bobcats, 64-59 Wednesday night at McGuirk Arena.
CMU snapped a two-game losing streak improved to 15-6 overall and 7-2 in the MAC. The win was also CMU's 11th at home.
All of Moore's 18 points came in the second half. The Southgate native added six rebounds and recorded three blocks.
Moore said foul trouble played a role in her inability to score in the first half.
“In the first half I had two fouls so I couldn't really do much,” Moore said. “In the second half my coach said something to me and I really processed that in my head. I knew I had to make a difference on the court, because I wasn't scoring, but that talk helped me score.”
It was close all the way up to the finish, when CMU led 62-59 with less than 10 seconds to go and Ohio was inbounding. The pass went across the court hitting junior guard Cassie Breen in the back of the head, leading to a turnover that sealed the win for the Chippewas.
After shooting 29-percent from the field in the first half, the Chippewas scoring woes changed. CMU opened the second half on a 10-3 run and went 3-for-9 from 3-point range in the third quarter. It resulted in a 43-40 CMU lead heading to the fourth quarter.
CMU shot a program single game-record 16-for-16 from the free-throw line. Eight of those free throws came in the final minute.
Head coach Sue Guevara said free throw shooting and one other key component can get this team to where it wants to be.
“In the beginning of the season we were not shooting free throws well at all,” she said. “It’s a mental toughness, that's the strength between your ears, and it’s what I talk about all of the time. There are two things that win championships: rebounding and free throws.”
Sophomore guard Presley Hudson finished with 13 points while adding three assists and four rebounds. Breen finished with 10 points while shooting 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Sophomore forward Reyna Frost earned her fourth double-double of the season on 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Frost said her rebounding success is all about going after the ball and creating ways to get rebounds.
“You just go after the ball, you wait for it to go off the rim and I just want it every single time,” she said. “Rebounding is important, and they out-rebounded us tonight so we need to work on that because it is key for winning games.”
CMU remains in third place in the MAC West Division behind Ball State and Northern Illinois.
Guevara said in order for her team to use this momentum from tonights win on the road, they need to clear their minds.
“I think that we lost a couple games and all the sudden everyone is playing mind games with themselves,” she said. “So yeah, this is a good momentum for us, but we need to stop screwing up our own mind and just keep shooting.”
CMU will take on Eastern Michigan Saturday at 2 p.m. in Ypsilanti.
